The present invention generally relates to rotary recording medium reproducing apparatuses capable of placing and leaving a rotary information recording medium in a state possible for reproduction within the reproducing apparatus when a jacket having a lid member for accommodating the recording medium therein is inserted into and then pulled out from within the reproducing apparatus, and also capable of incasing the recording medium within the jacket so that the recording medium can be obtained outside the reproducing apparatus together with the jacket, when the empty jacket is inserted into and then pulled out from within the reproducing apparatus. The present invention more particularly relates to the above type of a rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus provided with a lid member guiding mechanism for guiding the lid member within the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus so that the lid member enters into an opening of the jacket, when the empty jacket is inserted into the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus to recover the rotary recording medium inside the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus within the jacket.
Conventionally, in an apparatus for reproducing a rotary recording medium (referring to a video disc, PCM audio disc, and the like, and hereinafter simply referred to as a disc), there are types of apparatuses in which a disc is reproduced when the disc is loaded upon clamping and placing of the disc within the reproducing apparatus, by inserting into and then pulling out a jacket (disc case) which has a lid and accommodates a disc therein, from within the reproducing apparatus. As a conventional apparatus of this type, a reproducing apparatus was proposed in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 231,868 filed Feb. 5, 1981, entitled "DISC-SHAPED RECORDING MEDIUM REPRODUCING APPARATUS" in which the assignee is the same as that of the present application. This previously proposed reproducing apparatus operates together with a disc case comprising a jacket which has a space for accommodating a disc and an opening for allowing the disc to go in and out of the jacket, and a lid member inserted through the opening of the jacket for closing the opening of the jacket, where the reproducing apparatus comprises an inserting opening through which the case is inserted, a turntable for rotating the disc, holding means for holding at least one of the disc and the lid member provided at an innermost part on the opposite side from the inserting opening with respect to the turntable, a jacket opening enlarging device provided in the vicinity of the inserting opening, capable of moving over the turntable between the position in the vicinity of the inserting opening and the innermost part of the reproducing apparatus, for enlarging the opening of the jacket by entering inside cutouts of the lid member upon insertion of the jacket into the reproducing apparatus through the inserting opening, lowering and raising means for lowering the disc to a position where the disc is placed on the turntable from a holding position where the disc is held by the holding means upon starting of the reproduction, and raising the disc to the holding position from the turntable upon finishing or discontinuing of the reproduction, a reproducing transducer for reproducing the disc placed on the turntable, and moving means for moving the reproducing transducer from a waiting position to a reproducing position with respect to the disc.
In the above previously proposed reproducing apparatus, the disc inside the reproducing apparatus relatively enters within the jacket from the opening of the jacket, when an empty jacket is inserted into the reproducing apparatus after completion of the reproduction. Accordingly, when the jacket is pushed and inserted into a final position within the reproducing apparatus, the disc becomes accommodated within the jacket, and the lid member which is clamped inside the reproducing apparatus closes the opening of the jacket, to become connected to the jacket.
In a case where the lid member itself is not curved and is maintained at a predetermined height position by clamping means, edge part of the lid member on the side of the turntable is at a height position opposing the opening of the jacket. Hence, the edge part of the lid member enters within the opening of the approaching jacket in a normal manner.
However, in reality, there are cases where the lid member cannot be connected to the jacket, as will be described hereinafter.
First, the lid plate is a flat-shaped member formed from a resin, and there are cases where the lid member itself is curved due to unevenness introduced upon forming of the lid member. Further, there are cases where the height position at which the lid member is clamped, is inconsistent. In a state where the edge part of the lid member inside the reproducing apparatus on the side of the turntable is separated towards the upward and downward directions from the opening of the jacket, due to these causes, there are cases where the edge part of the lid member on the side of the turntable hits the jacket upon insertion of the jacket into the reproducing apparatus. In this case, the lid member cannot enter within the opening of the jacket. Therefore, the disc cannot be recovered from within the reproducing apparatus, since it becomes impossible for the lid member to connect to the jacket.
The lid member is shaped so that the lid member projects most at the right and left end sides thereof, on the side of the turntable. Accordingly, these projecting right and left end sides of the lid member first respectively enter within the opening of the jacket at the right and left end parts of the opening. However, the opening of the jacket is enlarged in a state where the center part of the opening is enlarged the most, and the right and left end parts of the opening which first respectively receive the above lid member are not enlarged by a large amount. Therefore, in order to normally connect the lid member to the jacket, the lid member must be maintained at the height position on the jacket inserting path with high accuracy. However, by considering the manner in which the disc case is handled by the user, and the state upon actual use of the reproducing apparatus, in reality, it is difficult to always accurately maintain the height position of the lid member throughout the long period in which the reproducing apparatus is used.
Therefore, it is desirable to construct the reproducing apparatus so that the lid member can normally connect to the jacket, even when the actual height position of the clamped lid member is greatly deviated from a predetermined height position due to a curved lid member or inconsistency in the clamping state of the lid member.